Contentious year comes to a close for Pasadena city council

Kristi Nix

Published 3:00 am, Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Photo: Kristi Nix

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Mayor Johnny Isbell instructed Pasadena Police officers to remove Councilmember Pat Van Houte from a council meeting after her comments violated a two-minute limit. “If there is a problem with the Department of Justice it will cause us legal problems. This information is germane to the discussion and there are issues that cannot be covered in two minutes,” she said. less

Mayor Johnny Isbell instructed Pasadena Police officers to remove Councilmember Pat Van Houte from a council meeting after her comments violated a two-minute limit. “If there is a problem with the Department ... more

Photo: Kristi Nix

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Citizen watch as Mayor Johnny Isbell instructs police officers to remove Councilmember Cody Wheeler from a council meeting for not following rules that limit comments to two minutes.

Citizen watch as Mayor Johnny Isbell instructs police officers to remove Councilmember Cody Wheeler from a council meeting for not following rules that limit comments to two minutes.

Councilmember Don Harrison (left) visits with the former Pasadena Assistant Fire Chief Richard Lawhorn after a council meeting.

Councilmember Don Harrison (left) visits with the former Pasadena Assistant Fire Chief Richard Lawhorn after a council meeting.

Photo: Kristi Nix

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Councilmember Phil Cayten held up the proposed redistricting map and voiced his suipport,

Councilmember Phil Cayten held up the proposed redistricting map and voiced his suipport,

Photo: Kristi Nix

Contentious year comes to a close for Pasadena city council

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Controversy was a common theme at Pasadena City Council meetings during 2014 and it remains to be seen if some of the contentious issues will get resolved in the new year.

The issue of redistricting began to take shape last year when Pasadena voters signed off on reducing the number of single-member districts from eight to six and to add two at-large council seats. But voters didn’t vote on how the new maps would be divided, leaving the mayor to oversee the process.

Before new maps were introduced, Mayor Johnny Isbell brought forward new rules for meetings that limited council member’s comments to two minutes on any topic. Several council members opposed the measure.

“This isn’t about a politician speaking or anyone trying to get more air time; this is about representative democracy. This is about your council man doing his job; being thorough in what’s on the agenda and having the opportunity to explain that to his district, his constituents,” Councilmember Cody Ray Wheeler said at the time. “This isn’t a political stunt. This is just about upholding the integrity of our city government and this takes a step back.”

Isbell countered the new rules would help keep the discussion on track.

“Well, naturally I disagree. I don’t think it’s a step back if you know what you want to say and don’t talk about world history and keep it germane to the issue we’re talking about,” Isbell said.

In the months that followed, Isbell introduced three possible maps for redistricting he said had been drawn by the Austin law firm Bickerstaff, Heath, Delgado and Acosta.

From the start, the council divided into four members who supported the new maps and four members who questioned the maps and the process used to create the new district boundaries.

The debate reached a climax in April when Mayor Isbell instructed police officers to remove Councilmember Pat Van Houte from a council meeting when she refused to limit her comments on the new maps to two minutes.

“The City Council had no input on drawing those maps. The City Council did not choose which map would go on the agenda and what we have is the map the mayor presented last July, a month before we hired the company that drew it,” Van Houte said.

After roughly three minutes of comments and numerous warnings from Isbell over time limits, it was clear Van Houte wasn’t afraid to take a stand, even if it meant getting thrown out of the meeting.

“Councilmember, your time is up,” Isbell said and pounded the gavel. “You should have organized your time better and talked about the maps. This is not germane.”

“If there is a problem with the Department of Justice it will cause us legal problems. This information is germane to the discussion and there are issues that cannot be covered in two minutes,” she said.

“Council member, you do not have the floor,” Isbell said, raising his voice.

“This is all true, mayor.”

“No, it’s not,” Isbell said.

“This is all true, mayor,” Van Houte said again.

“No, it’s not,” Isbell said. “Your two minutes are done.”

“Mayor, I serve the best interest of the city, I don’t serve you. This is something that could get the city in trouble with the Department of Justice,” she said.

“Council member, your time is up,” Isbell said. “Officer, remove her from the council meeting.”

Two uniformed police officers then came to escort Van Houte from the meeting.

During the increasingly heated debate that followed, almost half the council seats were eventually left empty when three other members walked out in protest.

“This is an embarrassment to the political process and to the City of Pasadena. This is a sham and is not what it is meant to be. It is meant to trick and deceive people. Redistricting is about power. Any elected official who tells you differently is lying to you. You see it at the local, state and federal level,” Councilmember Ornaldo Ybarra said.

Ybarra then walked out of the meeting in protest and to show support for Van Houte. Before the dust settled, Councilmembers Wheeler and Harrison also walked out of the meeting in protest.

After that meeting, the divide between the eight council members became clear. Councilmembers Wheeler, Ybarra, Harrison and Van Houte continued to have questions on many issues. On the other side, Councilmembers Steve Cote, Darrell Morrison, Phil Cayten and Bruce Leamon remained aligned and voted to approve the mayor’s proposals, often without any comments whatsoever.

“There has been some volatility within the (fire) department; recently we’ve had some unfortunate events and due to the mayor taking unilateral action we no longer have an assistant fire chief,” Councilmember Wheeler said during the May 19 council meeting.

Mayor Isbell told Wheeler he was out of order and a heated debate followed. After Wheeler continued to talk after the two-minute limit, the mayor told police officers to remove Wheeler from the meeting.

Despite numerous complaints from citizens and council members during the meetings, the mayor stood firm and refused to reverse his decision and reinstate the assistant fire chief.

Other controversies brought forward the same four-to-four vote with the mayor casting the deciding vote over the year on issues such as budget questions, contracts and capital improvement projects.

On Wednesday (Nov. 12), the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) announced they had filed suit in federal court over Pasadena’s redistricting efforts, alleging the new voting system was unconstitutional and violated the Voting Rights Act by watering down the power of the city’s Latino voting population.

“This change was made on purpose just at the point in time when Latinos were poised to elect a fifth member of the city council,” MALDEF Vice President of Litigation and lead counsel Nina Perales said during a press conference outside the federal courthouse.

In response, Mayor Isbell recently proposed hiring a second law firm to “supplement” the efforts of Bickerstaff, Heath, Delgado and Acosta. The measure was approved by a vote of four-to-four with Mayor Isbell casting the deciding vote. Voting to approve: Councilmembers Cayten, Leamon, Cote, Morrison and Isbell. Voting to oppose: Van Houte, Wheeler, Ybarra and Harrison.

The MALDEF lawsuit is expected to go before a federal judge in the coming months.